Hello fellow MINIacs! And Miniacs! If I have owned both, but now own neither, can I still lay claim to either of those titles? Meh, either way, the tag on my Mazdaspeed3 still reads "129 SLYR," so nyah-nyah!

That, however, is not the reason for me to make my semi-annual post here on NAM. The reason is that I want to give you some information about this year's MOTD Car Show. I'll be your humble host, and the fine folks at Outmotoring will be your humble sponsors.

Time: 2pm-4pm, Friday, April 30th*
Location: Fontana Ball Field, across from the General Store.

*Your host will endeavour to be in place by 1pm to allow entrants to claim their favorite parking spots & begin last minute detailing, etc.

In speaking with Aaron at Outmotoring, we decided to throw in a few extra trophies this year. Perhaps these extra awards will give both our entrants and our judges (that's you- the voting public) something more to think about.

As usual, there will be limited class trophies:

New MINI (Hard top, Cabrio, MC, MCS): 1st, 2nd and 3rd place

New MINI Clubman: 1st and 2nd place

Classic Mini: 1st and 2nd place

But we will also have 4 "open class" trophies. The voters must vote for 4 different cars in these 4 categories, but they can be cars they voted for in the limited classes.

Best in Show: The overall class of the event. The MINI or Mini that just blows your mind.

The Bling King: The Mini or MINI with the most impressive use of bling. What is bling? That's for you to decide. Chrome? Checkers? Mardi Gras Beads? Stickers? Magnetic badges plastered on every metal surface? Who knows? The only suggestion here is that is must be flashy! Why? Because there's also...

The Anti-Bling King: This one is intended for the best use of stealth or blackout mods. Or de-chroming. Or carbon fiber. Whatever you call anti-bling.

The Dirty Dog: This one is meant for the slap-nastiest, most disgracefully unkempt, bug-infested, turf-covered, mud-bathed MINI/Mini whose owner has the guts and lack of shame required to put him/her on public display!

 

The show gets better and better each year!!

 

Man, I would have won Dirty Dog for sure last year. I didn't prepare at all. I basically entered because it was a good parking space!

 

Can someone please post the names/ numbers of all the winners?

 

Sorry for the delay- been busy with a billion loose ends on my Supra restoration project since I got home. Apologies if I misspell any names. Many were hard to read.

Best new MINI:
1st: Stephen Horte (115)
2nd: Jessica Heming (104)
3rd: Robby Ann Carter (118)
*Due to a tie for 2nd place, we had Jessica and Robby Ann bring their cars forward for an audience tiebreaker on the spot. I feel compelled to mention that Rick Austin (145) was only a couple of votes from making this a 3-way tie for 2nd place.

Best New MINI Clubman:
1st: Cindy Beavers (201)
2nd: Eric Schatzlein (203)

Best Classic Mini:
1st: Ryan Heming (302)
2nd: Joy Tweddle (301)
*With only 2 Classic Minis entered, each was guaranteed a trophy. Due to some people only voting for one car, we actually did have a winner, but only by one vote. And the lead see-sawed back and forth as we counted.

Bling King:
Jason "Xiek" Hurdle (169)

Anti-Bling King:
David Knight (140)

Dirty Dog:
Paul Penny (113)

Best of Show:
Stephen Horte (115- also took 1st place in New MINI category)

Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you to everyone who entered.

Thanks list:

-Aaron at Outmotoring for supplying the trophies and sponsoring the show.

-Barry (Snooter) for making sure I had the supplies I needed to get the show rolling.

-Fontana's maintenance crew for running about 400 feet of extension cord to get us power!

-Xiek and another fellow whose name I forget (so sorry!) for helping me count the votes under pressure/time crunch.

-Everyone who voted for making the show a success.

I have a couple of ideas in mind to help next year's show improve. First and most obvious- I will recruit at least 2 volunteers to count the danged votes as they come in.

Second, Aaron and I already discussed breaking the New MINI category down into multiple classes- probably MC, MCS, MC Cabrio, and MCS Cabrio. But no distinction between 1st & 2nd generation models.

Third, I will bring more of the supplies I need with me so I don't have to harass Barry for them. Barry always comes thru, but the poor guy is way too busy already, and I can manage this. (Pens, markers, tape, power strips, etc., etc.)

If anyone has any suggestions, I am completely open to considering other improvements. I want the show to be as fun as possible for everyone.

Oh, and one final note- a few people suggested that I add an "other" category for non-MINIs, but as much as that would excite me as a former MINI owner, it just doesn't seem appropriate for this event, IMHO.

Thanks again, everyone. I had a blast, and I hope you enjoyed it!

 

That sounds like a cool idea! I like it.

Kevin

 

Bill -- Of course someone would ask !! How about PICTURES !! LOL

 

Right! Pics, please!

 

Thanks for the info!

I tried to get pictures of everyone. If there is a problem with the link, just let me know.

http://s722.photobucket.com/albums/w...%20Car%20Show/

 

Can someone point to specific pictures of the winners in the best new MINI category?

 

I labeled the photos of the winners. The exceptions were: I didnt get Blimey and I could not tell from my photos who the 2nd Clubman winner was. Can someone post pictures of these MINIs?